Exchange systems exist for trading assets. A known system provides a platform for trading shares of stock in various companies. The platform enables purchasers and sellers of the assets to make and accept offers to sell and/or offers to buy the assets from one another. The system then facilitates the transaction between the buyer and the seller. The NASDAQ is an example of such a system.
In a typical auction, such as an automobile auction, for example, an item is made available for bidding. Various participants place bids for the item. Typically, there will be a starting bid proposed by an auctioneer. The starting bid may be a minimum acceptable bid. One participant may place the starting bid. Other participants may place subsequent bids, each subsequent bid being higher than the previous bid. At the end of the bidding period, or if there is a point at which no participants wish to make a higher bid than the present bid, the highest bidder purchases the item for the bid price.
Many states have lottery systems, by which participants purchase entries in the lottery. The money paid for the entries is pooled and a portion of the pooled money is paid to winners based on fixed odds or based on the number of winners in a pooled game. The winner may be determined by matching randomly drawn numbers to a series of numbers on lottery tickets given to the participants in exchange for the entry purchase price.
Tournaments are among the various sports competitions. The NCAA basketball tournament, for example, is held from mid-March to early-April each year. It involves sixty-four teams in an elimination style format and is among the most widely bet sporting events in the United States. Many thousands of people bet on the tournament in some form or another. One of the most popular forms of betting is in a “bracketed pool” where, prior to the beginning of the tournament, individuals attempt to select the winners of each game played throughout the tournament and points are awarded depending on the stage of the tournament (i.e. more points are awarded for later games in the tournament than earlier games). All of the participants pay a single entry fee (i.e. $5, $10 or even $100) and fill out a tournament grid. The NCAA tournament bracket is published in newspapers nationwide and on the Internet and numerous pools are created in offices and among friends.